GoldenEye Movie Review

GoldenEye (1995)

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Written by: Ian Fleming (characters), Michael France (story), Jeffrey Caine and Bruce Feirstein (screenplay)
Directed by: Martin Campbell
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, Izabella Scorupco, Famke Janssen, Joe Don Baker, Judi Dench
Rated: PG-13
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Plot
When a powerful secret defense system is stolen, James Bond is assigned to stop a Russian crime syndicate from using it.

Verdict
Great opening action scenes start the film, but the rest of the story is lacking. Part of that is this supreme secret agent Bond doesn't have much agency. Things happen to him but not because of him. That's evidenced by how he doesn't even defeat Xenia. That happens for him. His main job is to seduce everyone woman he meets and dish out the occasional one liner. He's set up as too masterful as many scenes lack any tension. All of the thrills happen in the first ten minutes. The villain's role is to be an adversary to Bond, they don't have a true purpose. Giving them more motivation provides a better reason to root for Bond that's more than just defeat the bad guys.
It depends.

Review
This Bond movie released after a six year hiatus. The franchise hadn't gone more than three years without a release dating back to 1962. The only film franchises with more movies are Godzilla and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
It was Brosnan's first turn as Bond, after Timothy Dalton, and I'm pretty sure it's the first James Bond movie I ever saw, best that I can recall. I remember playing the Nintendo 64 inspired video game GoldenEye 007 for hours on end.

Typical for Bond movies, the opening scenes are action packed. Agent 007 James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) breaks into a chemical facility by bungee jumping off of a dam. He's got cool gadgets and he even teams up with 006 to destroy the site. That's capped with his death defying plane stunt that nearly makes the movie worth watching for this scene alone. Next is a car race, Bond in his Aston Martin versus a Ferrari. Even during a mountain carving drive Bond is ever the flirt.

Pierce Brosnan plays 007 James Bond

The woman Bond raced on the mountain, Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen), happens to be at the casino where they meet again. That's quite the coincidence. Her actual purpose is to steal an advanced helicopter. Xenia flies to to a Siberian base where she and a Russian general initiate a space laser to destroy the base. It's the GoldenEye satellite defense system. Bond is sent to chase them down.

Bond's car in this movie is a BMW Z3, with the movie revealing the car months before it released to the public. Producers agreed to a three-picture placement agreement with BMW in 1994.

While the opening scenes are fun, the rest of this is muddled. Bond meets with a few contacts to find the leader of this secret group, the Janus syndicate, that now controls the laser. Brosnan's confidence borders on smugness, but with the character that's not a complaint. The movie excels in Bond being Bond, but the story is thin. There's a lack of tension as we know Bond will find the truth or escape any traps. He does get trapped in a helicopter, but he uses the ejection seat to escape. I wasn't sure how that works with the 'copter's blades. Bond chases the general in a tank down city streets which is fun. It's maximum destruction.

Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan play 006 Alex Trevelyan, 007 James Bond

With the basis of the movie being Bond will find a way to succeed, this gets a bit long. Bond's one liners also grow old. Bond seems like a spectator more than a powerful spy. What does he do? It's mostly what's happening to him. He flies to Cuba to follow Xenia, but she's stopped not by anything Bond does.

I've only seen Brosnan, Craig, and a couple of Connery Bond movies. Based on that, these really are a product of their time. Bond's adversary's in this outing are paper thin. All of them could have been more interesting. Revenge is just a boring basis for the events of this movie. Xenia is an agent of Janus for no real reason other than chaos.  Developing the villains better gives us more reason to root for Bond. 

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